Dear COVID-19

You have killed thousands of people, you prevent us from seeing those we normally spend time with, you have messed up the school education of thousands of students: I really, really don’t like you.

As an almost-graduate in Secondary V, I would never have imagined that Thursday, March 12, 2020 would be my last day of high school. Before that day we all knew that you existed, but no-one here worried about you and your arrival. You seemed so distant to us, and yet you were at our doors.

Friday, March 13, 2020

On that morning, as my friends and I learned that all schools would be closed for an indefinite period, we were happy to hear the news. Holiday, parties and fun would surely follow. But, dear Covid, you will not be surprised to learn that since your arrival, nothing has been festive or fun.

One day followed another and more news was announced. The Ministry exams were cancelled. Do you think we were happy to learn that? What about all our studying and our work? You couldn’t care less? It’s true that we will retain what we learned, but it seems to me that we will not have the same pride in obtaining our diploma that we would have had from passing the exams.

Monday, April 27, 2020

Secondary schools will not reopen before September 1. So Thursday, March 12 was truly my last day of high school. If I’d known, Covid, what you were going to cause next, I would have savoured those last moments more. I went through that day like any other Thursday, just eager for the week to end so I could relax on the weekend.

If you’d told me, that morning, that it was my last day of school, I would have laughed in your face! If I’d known, I would have made a point of acknowledging my teachers one last time.

Yes, Covid, I detest you for all of that. But you can’t take from me the wonderful times I spent with my teachers over the past five years. Because of you, I wasn’t able to express my gratitude to them.

They who gave body and soul to teach us and pass their knowledge on to us. They who tried even harder with some students, because they always believed in our success…the success of every one of us. The pride on our faces as we received our diplomas would have been our way of thanking them.

Thank you, teachers, for believing in us when, sometimes, even we had lost hope in our own success. I wish everyone the opportunity to have teachers as marvellous as the ones I had over the past years. I would not have succeeded without them. I hope to see them again soon, to wind things up properly.

In the hope, Covid, that you will disappear very soon.

Jade Le Siège, student in Secondary V at the Polyvalente des Monts of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts

 

Jade Le Siège2 Posts

Jade Le Siège, une étudiante de cinquième secondaire, nous livre un témoignage touchant sur la réalité des finissants sur le point d’obtenir leur premier diplôme à l’heure de la Covid-19. Avec justesse et sincérité, elle nous rappelle que rien n’est jamais acquis et qu’il est essentiel de profiter de chaque instant, même à 17 ans. Jade Le Siège, a student in Secondary V, has provided a touching account of the reality facing this year’s graduands, on the point of obtaining their first diploma in the time of Covid-19. Writing with relevance and sincerity, she reminds us that we should take nothing for granted and that it is essential to make the most of every moment, even at the age of 17.

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